The Internal Insanity of a Narcissist

When the insanity defense is mentioned, most people think of a person who lost control or blacked out and cannot remember committing the crime. Those who are considered narcissists are not prone to those impulses or blackouts. Typically, the narcissist is always in control of his or her behavior and actions. Even with this level of control, the mental and physical strength required to prevent hurting someone's feelings is an excess that the narcissist finds a waste of their time. The narcissist does not consider how their actions or words effect those around them. They do not consider the effects they have on others. The unfortunate result of this is that they come across as tactless, gruff and insensitive.

Most narcissists are mildly obsessive-compulsive and suffer from an uncontrollable rage, as well as entertaining fantasies or delusions of grandeur. Even with these supposed "handicaps", they should be held accountable to the vast majority of their actions, if not all of them.

Even during their explosive times, the narcissist still retains the ability to tell right from wrong. In reality, their impulse control is unimpaired even though they may act otherwise in an attempt to justify their controlling or manipulative behaviors. While they can control their responses to those impulses, they cannot control their delusions of grandeur. However, a narcissist does know that lying or making up a fanciful story and trying to pass it off as reality is morally wrong. With that knowledge comes the ability to make a choice of whether or not to do it.

Narcissists are very sensitive and extremely perceptive to the most sensitive or subtle changes in their environment. As such, they are capable of anticipating the consequences of their actions and the influence they will have on others. Unfortunately, the narcissist just does not care what impact they will make on those around them.